ABSTRACT
Certain study designs are problematic in palliative care, and perhaps the most often discussed is the randomized controlled trial. Nowadays, trials, especially crossover trials, for drug treatments in palliative care are more often used, although there can be difficulties with recruitment, attrition, and measurement. Despite the difficulties of recruitment in palliative care, many patients in palliative and supportive care do wish to be involved in research and to tell their story, particularly if they feel it may help others in their situation in the future. A common challenge in palliative care is establishing suitable criteria for recruitment to the study. In general, missing data should be classified and explored in three categories: As attrition is such a common problem in palliative care, the MORECare statement has also proposed a new classification for attrition in palliative care studies.
